Session 154: The Unbroken Shackle

General Summary

24th-32nd Sydenstar 836PD   24th Sydenstar   As Treacy’s taunt fades from their minds, the Unbroken survey the empty Tower. Sabali, who’d been helping with forces on the ground, joins back up with the party. He updates them that the unrest in the city has gotten more violent, and is worse in the centre.   Arthur and Zeni detect a magical influence within the dark stormy clouds that hang over the city. The party race through the violent mobs to the Quadroads, where the enchantment was started and is now at the centre of the shadowy storm.   Raphael, Zeni and Arthur fly up through the heavy winds to the roiling centre of the storm. Through their combined high level dispel magics they break the Shadow Storm, clearing the skies and freeing the city of the enchantment. The party spend the rest of the day helping to repair, heal and safeguard the city.   25th-32nd Sydenstar   Highbearer Vord thanks the Unbroken for their efforts and offers whatever he can of Vasselheim to aid in their battle with Karkematth and his forces. Ceri joins with Sabali in reuniting with the Unbroken as Simeon word of recalls to teleport them back to their Keep in Emon.   Armed with the secrets of the Ebon Codex, the party set out to make the mortal realm’s Unbroken Shackle. Over the next week the group separate to undertake their own rituals and preparations in order make their own individual chains, as expressions of their own mortal will.   Arthur asks Professor Rathbourne for a way to go back in time, to contact an early version of himself in order to have the time to create a way to temporally trap Karkematth and the Aspect. Rathbourne denounces Arthur as being reckless and refuses to aid him.   Later Arthur finds an old note in his handwriting that directs him to meet at the Soltryce Academy in Rexxentrum. There he meets with a 100-year-old future version of himself, who presents him with the Temporal Imprisonment spell. The past and future versions of Arthur meeting, creates in itself a temporal loop, that forms the binding element of the Chronal Chain to the mortal plane. The older Arthur avoids spoilers of the future, although while he notes there may be losses, there will be happiness.   Raphael learns the basics of smelting and smithing from Orlando, and travels back to where he was ‘born’, the Frostweald. He finds the cave where he first awoke and found Frostweaver. With a small fire he smelts several items of his past, his Unbroken Token, his first sword etc to create his chain. His patron, Queen Mab, appears before him. In front of his Winter Queen, and his chain, Raphael swears a new Oath of the Unbroken Shackle.   His Oath acting as the mortal binding to his chain. Mab thanks Raph for his service, and absolves him of his old oath as her Winter Knight. She channels her ‘Mother’, the Raven Queen to empower Raph’s Iron Flask to be able to capture Karkematth’s soul, as he's cheated her long enough.   Zeni takes the time to travel across key areas of elemental activity, collecting wind from Zephrah, and bottling lightning from a storm above Inys Lloeren. She travels to Port Zoon, on the coast of Wildemount, the earliest place she can remember as child before she was a slave. On the beach she takes her metal horn as the focus for her ritual, and with the sheer force of her magical will she creates her piece of the Shackle.   A passerby on the beach notices the exhausted Zeni, another similar aged female tiefling called Hope, checks in on her. An overwhelmed Zeni awkwardly makes her excuses, but does promise to visit here again.   Sabali travelled with Zeni to Zephrah, but made his own pilgrimage over the Summit Peaks north of Stilben, the town where Sabali was taken in by the Shade Temple. Following the old training routes of the Temple, Sabali finds a cave where the Monks would travel to meditate in the darkness. For several days, Sabli meditates with his chain weapon the Kyoketsu-shoge, until he becomes fully one with the shadows.   In the darkness he receives visions of his old Master Kenji the blind, questioning his intentions, and that by infusing the chain with his Shadow and darker side, Sabalo, he’ll be going against the Temple’s teachings. Sabali remains resolute in his conviction to use the Shadows against the darkness, even if he must lose that part of himself. With that self-acceptance, he hears the voice of his mother, Misty, giving him the approval to let go. Reaching the enlightenment, Sabali infuses his dark side Sabalo into the chain, and leaves the cave to be reborn in the sun. His first Shuriken, grafted to his chest during the shadow binding, acts as his mortal tether to his chain.   Orlando visits Whitestone, picking up some commissioned runes from his tutor GG. He muses on the importance of legacy with Lord de Rolo, but his fellow tinkerer assures him that he is a ‘good man’. Fuelled with inspiration, Orlando ventures to the World Anvil at Kraghammer. Along with his automaton BUBBA and a summoned Construct, Orlando uses the Anvil’s powers to create a master-crafted Chain of precious metals and powerful runes.   However, the Anvil takes it toll as Orlando rapidly ages to make up for a life’s work of craft being achieved in a day under the Anvil’s magic. Orlando enchants his tools with a powerful Geas that will prevent him and others who wield his tools, which act as his mortal tether, from ever sharing the secret of the Shackle’s creation.   On the 29th, all of the Unbroken had returned to their Keep in order for Raphael to cast a joint Dream with their spies in Karkematth’s army, Jinarth and Pick. They update on the forces and that Treacy had returned from Vasselheim to aid in some ritual. Something ‘big’ was going to happen, but they weren’t sure what. After that night, Raph tried to Dream again but something kept blocking his magic and Arthur’s attempts to scry on them.   On the evening of the 31st, under a full moon, Simeon excuses himself to the roof of the Keep in order to perform a private ‘blessing’ of the Unbroken’s chains. He conjures his celestial ally Ryuquz the Couatl, and another Angelic being reveals itself to Simeon, his guardian Deva, Aryanna. The consoling celestials are ready to help however they can with such a holy task, but their general supportiveness soon becomes hesitant when Simeon asks for them to help him become a blood sacrifice!   Simeon is able to persuade them on the basis of the power of blood magic that he had experienced with the Soul Bearing ritual with Nirathram. Simeon casts Regenerate on himself as the angels slit his throat, to bathe the chains in his Aasimar blood. But the blood loss is too great, soon Simeon losses consciousness and slips beyond into the realm of his Lady, the Moon-Weaver. She understands the ‘trick’ that Simeon seeks to pull in using his life force as a way to banish the Aspect beyond the realms, but she warns her Chosen to never do this kind of foolishness again. With her parting words, Simeon is revified back to life by his Guardian Angels.   The Unbroken reach level 20!